soon to be rtb owner..

hi everyone..
a few months back i bought a ball python that i fell in love with and is very healthy and eating well.. and recently ive been thinking about getting a red tail boa and i just wanted to know a few answers to some newbie type questions..

i have a 20gal. long glass aquarium (critter cage) with a sliding top, approx. how long is appropriate for a boa to live in it before upgrading to a bigger size? how big should he/she be before upgrading?

i know ball pythons are picky eaters, mine however is not sometimes she eats 2 mice in one sitting with no problems and has never rejected a meal.... are boas picky eaters? do they ever reject meals.... (even though i would never do this) i heard of morons feeding mouse after mouse...or rat after rat just to watch them eat because it was "cool"... is this even possible?... is it possible to over feed a boa or like a bp will they just stop when theyre full?...

and last question which pretty much relates to my first one..

whats the absolute biggest size tank i would have to get for my snake?... im prepared to spend whatever it takes i would just like to know ahead of time what im getting into..

thanks.

ok max size for a boa is as big as u want, asking minimum size is probably better, and adult male boa can usually live ok ina 4x2x2 viv, though I prefer minimum of 5x2x2, female wise 6 or 8ft long minimum by minimum 2ft wide. My 7ft female is in a 6ft by 3ft and has plenty of room.

Ok for young animals, I keep my hatchlings in a rack till they are 4 months old and they are in 4ltr tubs. I then move them to medium conticos which are 39cm by 28cm. They stay in these till about a year dependant on size. I then move them to a viv at a year my boas are in a 3x2x2 viv. At 2 years they are in their full size!

Boa's normally are dustbins and very rarely refuse food unless in shed, some boas still eat even when inthe deepest blue phase of their shed! Food eating regularity is never really a problem as all boa keepers will attest. I think for the snakes health its best to feed 1 item every 3 days as a hatchling , then 2 till it is ready to go up a size. I feed either a rat fluff or a medium mouse to hatchlings, all of my 2 month olds are on large rat fluffs and 2 are on weaners already! I only feed one item a week till they are 12 months and this can then lengthen to 7-10 days. I had my male salmon hypo upto 4.5ft at a year and he was on large rats! And I have a 2 year old boa she is just hitting 5ft and is just starting on large rats. You will learn with your snake, thats what is so amazing about reps there is no real hard and fast rules!

POwer feeding is a no no, One of mine would eat daily if I let her but its one food a wee no matter how much she cruises for food!

best of luck I love boas and have 3.9 of them!!


Peter

Congrats and you will find boas are the greatest you can go without a "giant" snake. I used to use aquariums but I got tired of it. Cleaning is harder and they are harder to heat and keep humidity up. Now I just use tubs, cheap and easy to clean. Upgrade as they go. My male was born 4-12-06 and is on 2 rat pups about every 5-7 days and lives in an 18 qt. tub with room to grow. I like the idea of providing your boas with the most room you can. I really like the idea of custom cages. I saw a few boas in 6' by 30" cages and it looked perfect for even the largest boas.

Good luck and feel free to ask us more questions!